Extensive Geological Campaign Under Way for Stuttgart 21Stuttgart 21 is one of Deutsche Bahn's largest projects consisting mainly of a comprehensive redesign of Stuttgart's dead-end central station, the Feuerbach-Wendlingen south rail connection as part of the Stuttgart-Ulm high speed line and a new railway station connecting the airport. Northwards, the city centre will also be linked to the high speed line to Mannheim. Stuttgart 21 will then permit uninterrupted ICE train services from Mannheim to Ulm via Stuttgart.The total length of the new routes is 56.9 km, of which 32.8 km in tunnel. The 29.7 km Feuerbach-Wendlingen connection will require 14.2 km of tunnels. Altogether, there will be 16 tunnels, the longest of which being a 9,468 m tunnel across the Filder Plain. Other noteworthy tunnels are Feuerbach (3.2 km), Ober/Untertürkheim (5,512 m), Airport (2,207 m) and Cannstatter (3.5 km). Construction should begin in 2005 and will cost €840 million.Meanwhile, extensive core drilling is underway. Altogether approximately 2,400 drills will be necessary between Feuerbach and Ulm. The project requires approximately 1,000 core drills from Feuerbach to Wendlingen. These core drills are ongoing until June. It is the biggest core drilling programme ever undertaken in Germany and Deutsche Bahn is spending €30 million on it. To date, about 32,000 m of bore holes have been drilled. Visit www.stuttgart21.de and www.bung-gmbh.de 20/03.